The Sentinel is a three-stage intercontinental ballistic missile intended to replace the United States’ arsenal of aging Minuteman III ICBMs by 2038, with the missile itself originally expected to be adopted by the US military around 2030.
The missile is expected to carry several W87-1 thermonuclear warhead with a blast yield of 475 kilotons each, and have a range of at least 15,000 kilometers.
At this time, however, Sentinel appears to be stuck in the “development hell”, with the missile’s cost already vastly exceeding the original estimates while the program itself is far from completed.
Meanwhile, the United States finds itself woefully lacking in the land-based nuclear deterrent department that is currently comprised of the aforementioned Minuteman III missiles, relics of the Cold War.
At the same time, Russia has upgraded its land-based nuclear triad component since the fall of the USSR, adopting advanced intercontinental ballistic missiles such as RS-24 Yars and RS-28 Sarmat.
Each of these Russian missiles carry multiple high-yield thermonuclear warheads and possess advance capabilities for bypassing enemy anti-ballistic missile defenses – something that Minuteman III cannot match due to it being simply too old.